I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan

When I say, "I Know What You Did Last Summer," what comes to mind first, the book or the film? For me, it's the unforgettably creepy book. I read quite a few Lois Duncan books when I was a kid, and I Know What You Did Last Summer was always and will always be my favorite.

Julie, a high school senior, is anxious about the usual things: her grades, graduation, college, life. In the back of her mind, she's also always thinking about something that happened the previous summer - a terrible hit-and-run accident that killed a little boy, the specifics of which only she and three of her friends know about - or so they thought. When Julie receives an unsigned note that reads, "I know what you did last summer," she freaks out. Memories of that horrible night come rushing back to her, and she isn't sure that she can keep what happened a secret anymore. Her friends have different ideas, though. Some have moved on with their lives; the guys have gone on to college. Some of them don't want to confess. Each of the four old friends has secrets of his or her own - secrets they'll do anything to protect.

I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan was first released in 1973 and made into a feature film 24 years later, in 1997. Whether or not you liked the movie, I urge you to read the book. They changed many things for the movie, including character names, the setting, the killer's identity, the number of people killed, even the color of Julie's hair, so you can enjoy the book and film separately...or you may like one version more than the other.

Comments

Lois Duncan was one of my favorite writers in middle school! But I preferred her more supernatural stories, like "Stranger With My Face." Still, I roll my eyes at the "I Know What You Did..." movie... honestly, that was kind of a classic YA suspense novel there you just turned into a joke, thanks.

Off topic, my "I am not spam, I am a real person" code words in the box below are "Central reality." That's just crying out to be turned into a science fiction novel there, says I.